Decorating With Kids: 5 Ways to Use Pinterest

You are going to begin to notice a theme here.  I believe guiding choices is the key to a room you and your child will love.  The trick is to let your child make the final choice, but you make the pre-selection to narrow down the options.  I recommended the same technique for choosing paint colors with kids.  But, everything needed to decorate a room doesn’t come on a paint swatch.  Thank heavens for Pinterest, which is a great tool for making decorating choices with your kids.

Today, in the third installment of the Decorating With Kids series, I want to share how I am using Pinterest to decorate a superhero bedroom with my son.  He is an almost-6-year-old, so my tips are geared toward that age level.  For older kids, you may be able to have them do some of the pinning or browse Pinterest for inspiration.  I took a different approach for my younger son.

Kids are very visual.  Which makes Pinterest a great tool for making decorating choices with kids, as well as keeping all your ideas together in one place.  Jen, from I Heart Organizing,  is spot on in recognizing her husband and kids (3 boys) are visual and using that to her advantage to get their decorating input.

My kids are visual like my hubby.  They need to see something in order to understand it or know how to select things.  So, finding inspiration online or in magazines is huge when having them help make choices.  Basic thumbs up or thumbs down when seeing pictures works really well.  So does laying out fabric swatches, paint swatches, etc… I will ask what they want, and find visuals of their answers so they can ultimately decide if that is what they really like.  I am pretty lucky, my boys are more interested in participating in the creating of a room from the handy man side of things, than they are about the actual finishes and colors going into the space {as long as there is no Pink, they are happy}.

A Pinterest board is a great place to share ideas and start a conversation with your kid.  As Jenna from SAS Interiors puts it so elegantly, listening to your kids is important.

My top tip for involving kids in the design process is to listen.  Listen to what they like.  Listen to how they want to express themselves through the colors they choose and how they want to showcase what they find interesting.  Whether it’s a bug collection, a favorite superhero, or a fun momentos, show them that they matter through listening to them and showcasing what is important.

A big welcome to Dana, from House*Tweaking, who is joining the series today.  Dana believes in limiting choices as much as I do.

Limiting choices is key! I’ll find two or three items (i.e., paint colors, throw pillows, art prints, etc.) I like and that I think my kids will like then I’ll ask them to pick from those. We all win ;)

5 Ways to Use Pinterest for Decorating With Kids

Pinterest is a fabulous tool for visually sharing ideas with your kids, allowing you to start a conversation about decorating, and it is an easy tool to use for limiting choices.  Here are 5 ways Pinterest can help you decorate with kids:

1.  Pre-Shopping

I don’t know about your kids, but mine tend to get bored wandering furniture stores.  They know them as “mommy” stores, and only the ones with a cart they can ride in hold any appeal.  Instead of taking your kids to a bunch of furniture stores to browse, you can do the pre-shopping from the comfort of home.

For the same reasons I don’t recommend taking kids to the paint aisle to choose paint, I don’t recommend taking them to a furniture store to choose furniture.  You don’t want them to have free reign to pick anything in the store and you don’t want to overwhelm, or bore, them.  I know online shopping doesn’t with kids doesn’t sound much better, surfing the internet and all, but you get to do the surfing and use Pinterest to show them your best finds in a controlled environment (a Pinterest board for their room).

Pin First, Buy Later.  If you are out shopping and see something for the room, pin it to the board.  It is so easy to forget where you spotted something, so pin it before you forget it.  It is also a good idea to pin it to the board before buying to make sure it goes with everything else.  Instead of making an impulse buy that might not work in the room, you can show your kids how to think through the decision before buying.  With older kids you might even walk them through searching for a similar item at a lower cost.

2.  Limiting Choices

When choosing furniture and decor for my son’s superhero bedroom, I pinned options to Pinterest and then showed him to make the final choice.  To keep his focus, I limited my pinning to one type of item at a time.  I started with desks.  I pinned three desks he could choose from.

I added a few notes in the comments of the pin that I wanted to tell him about.  For example, I wanted him to know the wood and metal desk had no storage, where as the other two desks had drawers.  A great way to discuss the options before they make a choice, is to ask your child what is the same or different about the desks.

Once he chose the white desk, I deleted the other pins, keeping only the desk he chose.  Then I moved on to the next selection…bedding.  Again, I pinned a few choices for him to look at.  I let him make the final choice.

The desk he already chose was still on the board, so he could see how it would look with the other choices he makes.

This type of decision making is what Melissa, from I Still Love You, calls a “this or that” approach.

 I like to go with a this or that approach. I’m not one for licensed characters and the like, so I avoid that argument all together if I give her the choice between two things. She still feels ownership over her decisions; it’s a win-win! I’m sure 10 years from now, I’ll have to take a different approach.

3.  Building a Plan

The Pinterest board becomes your room plan.  Since you are keeping the final choices and deleting the other options, the board shows all the elements of the room together.  For a complete plan be sure to pin products, DIY ideas, and inspiration images.  The board is also a great reminder for kids. They are busy, busy, busy, but the board will help them recall where you are going with the room.

Mari, from Small For Big, sings the praises of using Pinterest with her daughter.

I’m learning that Pinterest is an awesome kid-friendly tool – I have already steered my daughter towards some great design ideas by showing her the photos I’ve pinned. It’s inspiring for both of us, and opens her eyes to possibilities she never would have thought of otherwise. She even has her own Pinterest board!

4.  Promoting DIY (Do-It-Yourself) Projects

Pinterest is a great place to find and save DIY ideas.  Use the same method above for making choices to review DIY ideas with your kid.  In our case, we pinned a couple of images to represent one project.  My son liked the scribble panels from West Elm, but I liked the DIY bleach pen curtain panels.  We agreed to combine the two ideas and create bleach pen curtains inspired by the scribble panels.  We kept those two pins and removed the store-bought navy and DIY chevron curtains.

5.  Keeping Your Options Open

Keep track of items you want to check out in person.  My son was not sure which chair would be the most comfortable for his desk.  Instead of forcing him to choose, we are keeping them all on the board until we have a chance to try them out in person.  I have Pinterest on my phone, so we can view the board anytime we are out shopping.  Again, the pin comments are a great place to take notes on each chair before making a final decision.  (As you can see in the graphic at the top of the post, my son is hoping the blue chair is the winner, but still wants to try it first.)

Creating a Pinterest board together is so much fun.  My son loves to do anything on the computer, so he thinks it is like a game.  I am happy he is engaged.  I browse after bedtime and add things to his board.  In the morning he can review and make choices.  Our superhero bedroom board is coming along.  We will continue to pin to it as we plan and work on the room.

Have you started using Pinterest with your kids yet?